The Secret to Ascension

“The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.” ~ Attributed to Lao Tzu

After climbing through the jungle, making my way through the grueling forest, dense and bewildering with trails, I came to a clearing on a ridge, on what I sensed must be the very top of the great mountain in the clouds. And as I made my way to the ridgetop and clearing, I saw that this was not the top. I saw it was beautiful and magnificent, but it was after all only a plateau. And from the plateau above the bewildering and winding complex of trails I now stood, I could see in the distance what could only be assumed at this point to be the peak. Perhaps there was a mountain more massive behind it too.

And on the story goes…

There are so many narrative accounts as well as fictional and metaphorical stories that ring out the same truth in the same way as the above narrative. Many of us often have this experience on one level or another at one point or another, where we come to this point in our lives, in ourselves. The reason this story is so often true, metaphorically and specifically, is because that’s how it is, both aesthetically and energetically. No matter how things go, no matter the plateau or peak you reach, there are always more heights to scale, another plateau or peak above you. As soon as you think you’re on top, you’ve stopped evolving, you’ve stopped ascending. And while you may end up at quite an enjoyable and beautiful place there could be a whole series of heights just beyond you that you won’t realize — until you realize ascension is a process, not a destination.

Once you begin on this infinite and exponential journey of discovery, you might stop, but there is no turning back.

The Nature of Ascension

The Geometry of Energy is a meditation teaching of focus, clarity, connection, circulation, unity and expansion. It is also a formula for energy comprehension — through meditative understanding of points, lines, shapes and solids — and a way toward simplification of the ascension process. Through examining the four dimensions of geometry, we are able to engage individuation, understand energy, visualize the big picture, and understand its importance.

In ascension, first you find out what is your current point of view; your plateau. Understand the process of growth, and celebrate the view.

Then you ask: What am I afraid of? Why do I always do X? What do I want to change, or experience? When you know where it is you want to go, and you can visualize the next point ahead of you, then you can visualize your line to it. If the point is something simple like quitting smoking, you can then enhance your line – your approach – to your goal accordingly. If the point is something more esoteric or intangible, like becoming more intuitive, you retain and maintain that point of focus, and the lines rise up to meet you as you ascend. Then you find your higher point, your more true self.

The key is to consciously make connections with lines and directions that most resemble your true nature and the nature you wish to become. Choose the next plateau you want to rise to. Become, embody, meditate and even chant if you will, boldly and simply: “I am X…” and watch your ascension unfold before you. We have a point in focus, lines arise before us. Of course, try to make sure the direction of your lines of ascension are as unselfish as possible; you do not have to destroy the mountain on your way up to its peaks. Consider your approaches in modest and achievable terms, and great heights can be attained as you travel, step by step.

Next, emancipate your energy to be unrestricted and flow with it in a way that opens the linear (direction) and circular (pattern) formations of energy in your life. These openings allow the ‘cocooned you’ to expand and break out, and fly! Be present… get grounded… meditate on the breath… acknowledge and embrace your unique place in the cosmic order. It doesn’t matter what self-realization or self-actualization practice you engage in, but in ascension, energetic circulation and expansion must occur.

Edgar Cayce observed there are four aspects to wellness; relaxation, circulation, assimilation and elimination. These four aspects to physical wellness are also applicable to our energetic bodies. Consider the blood being of our physical bodies being illustrative of our energetic bodies. If we are physically unfit our bodies go to shit. If we don’t move, we eat a lot of crap, or we consume alcohol frequently, our blood literally coagulates and slows down. The same is true for our energetic bodies. If we don’t practice some form of meditation or meditative movement, or get involved with nature and our natural state of being, the flow of our energetic bodies coagulates too, impeding our wellbeing and journey to the next spiritual peak.

Arriving at the Next Peak

Lastly is the process of expansion; the arrival at the peak where the next new peak can be seen. The expansion process is the “breakthrough” that people speak of. It often involves the crumbling of so many outer-shells that it may seem like a breakdown, but it’s actually a breakthrough. Expand your thoughts and focus on the linear and circular openings, psychologically and spiritually, so that the openings can lead to a flooding – but cleansing – unity expansion.

Initially, being mentally and emotionally present can be confronting. The human mind is nearly always clouded by life’s desires and traumas, so when we remove ourselves from distraction and engage in the realization of our deepest consciousness, we may experience an influx of unresolved (circular) thoughts and feelings; the traumas (past) and fears (future) of life may come into our consciousness, seeking to be cleared. Don’t just sit there in a half broke cocoon, half way to being a butterfly, hampered instead of freed, like so many figuratively do. Face the darkness. We may feel that this takes us farther away from an immediate sense of peace and progress, yet we can only achieve peace in the long-term if we acknowledge and resolve the thoughts and feelings that continue to arise in our consciousness. Know that these feelings, now acknowledged, will clear over time. Allow them to pass through your consciousness as you return to the serenity of the present moment.

Each energy dimension opens you up more and more to increased ascension because of their enhanced vibrations and complexities. Each time you engage this process the more the superfluous aspects of your character fall away. The more we move energy the more our unnecessary mental and emotional ‘add-ons’ all crumble from the cocoon; all of our induced masquerades, the less-real pieces of our psychological makeup, the constructs and shells that otherwise restrict our true butterfly nature.

Breakthroughs are often painful at one stage or another, and certainly during the unity expansion process things tend to break. The more you take an active part in your own ascension process, the more likely things will break on your way to becoming.The shell of your ego must be broken too, and then slightly modified, returned to working order with a new greater perspective on life and your unique place in it.

And remember, no matter how far you go, there is certainly always further to go. No matter how your level of being changes as you ascend, there is always another higher summit to climb.

In ‘The Geometry of Energy’, author Ethan Indigo Smith explores meditation and meditative energies through the sacred four dimensions of geometry. Simple and profound, it is an empowering four-step meditation designed to lead to individuation, self-development, an enhanced understanding of energy, and psychological and spiritual cleansing.

Useful to meditation newcomers and longtime practitioners alike, ‘The Geometry of Energy’ provides insights into a variety of meditative processes for psychological and spiritual cleansing and enhancement.

Activist, author and Tai Chi teacher Ethan Indigo Smith was born on a farm in Maine and lived in Manhattan for a number of years before migrating west to Mendocino, California. Guided by a keen sense of integrity and humanity, Ethan’s work is both deeply connected and extremely insightful, blending philosophy, politics, activism, spirituality, meditation and a unique sense of humour.